


Response to Stimuli

by hifreqblade



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Gen, Multi, attempts at fluff/writing a crush, how do cyborgs work, i had an idea once and i ran with it, my third mgs fic lets gooooo, raiden girlboss moments
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27888934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hifreqblade/pseuds/hifreqblade
Summary: Raiden worries he has a software instability. Doktor suspects something else.
Relationships: (divorced), Raiden/Kevin Washington, Raiden/Rosemary (Metal Gear)
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

Tired. How well did Raiden know the word, the feeling, the experience of just utter exhaustion?

The answer was not very well. His cybernetic enhancements made exhaustion an impossible feat. They kept his blood sugar leveled and his energy consistent throughout the day. His coworkers envied this body, poking fun at his lack of a necessary caffeine addiction. Sure, his old human body had experienced its fair share of exhaustion throughout those twenty or thirty-some years he lived before being kidnapped and experimented on. But now the idea never crossed his mind. Hell, he didn't even need to sleep much anymore, only really doing it for show and for his own physical comfort.

Yet, Raiden was _tired_. He was exhausted. He felt like he was dragging his feet and running on empty. His new enhancements made him much lighter on his feet, but the weight of his emotional exhaustion just made each step feel like he had weights tied to his ankles.

His life up to this point had been exhausting. Sure, he had accomplished so many great things, but it took ages for him to get to a good place where he could just... relax. It also took ages for him to accept that, yes, being a child soldier and going through all kinds of emotional turmoil and divorcing his wife and becoming a literal robot had definitely affected his brain negatively somehow.

God, how he wished that his serotonin levels were regulated just as much as his blood sugar. Despite this, it was the last shred of his humanity he could really hold onto for a while, before his enhancements became much more realistic. Gone was the cybernetic jaw, a cool but bulky design, replaced with a sleeker one that blended into his skin seamlessly. From top to bottom, nobody would suspect he wasn't 100% human, give or take the cybernetic prosthetic heels that made a satisfying "click-clomp" as he walked. Those weren't going away.

He marveled at his ability to blend back into society and look as human as possible, but the lack of exhaustion and damn near superpowers? That was his little secret.

Raiden was tired. Emotionally he felt like someone had wrung him out like a wet towel. If he still needed to sleep, he'd just go into shutdown mode, curled up on the red leather couch in the Maverick breakroom. But instead, he kicked his feet up, staring blankly at the ceiling as if it was intriguing to him. He stared back down, focusing his attention on his hands, in an attempt to keep himself awake.

"Hey, man, what's up?" Kevin asked from out of nowhere. The sudden sound of the breakroom door and Kevin's voice breaking through the silence made Raiden jump a bit, but he immediately relaxed, even smiled at the sound of Kevin's voice.

"Just... hanging out," Raiden finally replied. He hadn't talked in a few hours, so his voice came out sounding much more gravelly than usual. He cleared his throat as if to compensate. "How about you?"

Kevin opened the fridge, leaning further in. "Looking for something to drink. And wondering what you're doing in the breakroom?"

"Oh?" Raiden sat up immediately, assuming a more formal posture. Whatever feeling of exhaustion he had before was immediately zapped. He hated wearing suits to work, so he'd thrown off his suit jacket when he excused himself to just relax earlier. "Should I be out there?"

"I'd say so." Kevin closed the fridge, returning empty-handed. "And restock our water bottles, huh?"

Kevin, of course, was joking with Raiden, and he reaffirmed this with a playful punch as he passed through the breakroom. Kevin had a very playful nature around the cyborg, always speaking casually and joking even though Raiden was technically his boss at this point. It was so comforting to them both, knowing that they could really be themselves around each other no matter the circumstances.

Raiden stood up, grabbed his suit jacket, and headed out of the breakroom, where the rest of the team waited for ... something from him.

"Is something the matter, Raiden?" Courtney immediately asked as she watched her boss take his seat at the end of the boardroom table.

Raiden cocked an eyebrow at her, suddenly feeling his face grow hot. "If anything, I'm just a bit, uh, unprepared for today's meeting. Apologies. Just not feeling right today."

The group was silent. Courtney typed something on her computer and Raiden bit his bottom lip, suddenly worried it had something to do with his lack of prep. Her eyes met his again.

"Don't worry about it, man," Kevin said reassuringly. "We can regroup later, right?"

Raiden exhaled a sigh of relief from the breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Yes. Let's regroup later in the week."

"I don't see any issue with that," Courtney said, shrugging. "Or maybe we could talk discuss whatever is was over lunch, informally.” The woman grinned, holding up a debit card. "My treat."

A wide grin spread across Kevin's face. "Hell yeah, Court! I had a feeling you'd come through today. So what are we thinking?"

"Maybe we should let Raiden pick," Courtney suggested, smirking.

Raiden said nothing, only grabbed his briefcase and let out a sigh. "Way to ask the guy who doesn't need to eat. You guys pick something. I'll just hang out."

"There's nothing you want?" Kevin asked. "I know you really like sushi, and there's a new place that just opened up down the street."

As he said this, he got closer to Raiden, eventually wrapping an arm around the man as he stood back up. Raiden felt... something happen. It was as if someone had set his face on fire, and his fingertips tingled with what felt like static electricity.

"E-excuse me for a moment," Raiden said suddenly, dropping his briefcase on the table. "I'll just... meet you guys there. No worries," he added before racing down the hall to Doktor's office.


	2. Chapter 2

Raiden knocked twice and entered the office, taking a moment to catch his breath.

"Raiden!" Doktor said suddenly, turning away from his monitors to face the man. "Is something the matter? That meeting earlier was -"

"There's somethin' going on with me," Raiden interjected, pulling his blonde hair away from the back of his neck, revealing a port input. "Just run your diagnostics or some shit."

"Alright, but before I do..." Doktor began rapidly typing. "Name your symptoms, please, so I can find their causes."

Raiden breathed shakily, feeling his fingertips still vibrate. "Let's see. I've been exhausted... most of this week. So exhausted. And shaky. Is there something wrong with my blood sugar or something?"

"Blood sugar regulation looks normal," Doktor replied. "As it should be."

"That's good," Raiden replied.

"Anything else?"

"The exhaustion goes away, though. Just gets zapped out of nowhere. I feel like I'm overheating. It's like someone just... moved the sun so it's right on my face.” Raiden paused. “But not all the time. Just, uh, certain times."

"Hmmm. We could probably stand to cool you down a bit, especially right now," Doktor said, clicking on a small desktop fan. The cool breeze barely helped, and it was aimed mostly at the back of Raiden's neck. "I'll bump down the temperatures around here."

"Alright."

"Define these ‘certain times’, though." Doktor had turned away from his desktop at this point, folding his hands.

"What?"

"You said this... overheating sun feeling is only at certain times," Doktor clarified. "Such as?"

"Such as..." Raiden thought for a moment, not sure of what to say until the reason hit him out of nowhere. The feeling grew worse and moved to the pit of his stomach. He hunched over a bit in his seat, feeling the wire in the back of his neck tighten.

"Schiesse," Doktor muttered, adjusting the wire and gripping Raiden's shoulder. "Do not overwork yourself finding an answer."

"What do you mean?" Raiden mumbled, wincing a bit from the sudden iciness of Doktor's hand.

Doktor unplugged the cord. "It seems that this feeling is brought on by something pretty big."

"But my exhaustion -"

"No more," Doktor interrupted. "We will get to the bottom of this even if you are tired."

Raiden sighed, then glanced down at his phone as Doktor continued typing something.

"It appears as though when this happens, your heart rate also experiences a spike. Is this correct, Raiden?" Doktor asked.

"Yes. I can definitely vouch for that." Raiden blinked. Oh god, did his heart rate spike. It beat faster and faster in his chest, the same feeling he got when he was running for his life and hiding from guards. Except... maybe it wasn't out of fear. It felt more exciting.

"And the shakiness?"

"Yep." His hands shook like earthquakes and made it hard to hold anything.

Doktor stopped typing to let out a laugh. "It does not look like a problem we can't solve. But it is not a problem in the slightest. A minor inconvenience at most."

"So what do we do, Dok?" Raiden asked. "I-I mean, I'd say it's a problem. It's preventing me from, uh, focusing. And - it's, well, impairing my teamwork capabilities."

Doktor continued laughing. "Raiden, my dear boy, this is not a problem. This cannot be solved. The answer is plain and simple: you've got a crush."

Raiden was taken aback by this statement, yanking the cord from the nape of his neck and sitting up straight in the step stool he'd been hunched over.

"No, no, no, there's no way. I-I'm not some middle school boy, Dok. I'm a cybernetically enhanced business mogul. Surely there's been a comorbidity or something. Lots of other cyborg problems, I'm sure, have these same symptoms. So maybe, y'know, we shouldn't just jump the gun on this whole crush thing. Surely it's a mistake." Raiden stopped to laugh nervously. "R-right?"

Doktor scoffed. "Where do you get off on calling yourself a business mogul, Raiden? Maverick Security is a startup at best."

"Thanks for the encouragement." Raiden rolled his eyes.

"And age or not, profession or not, robot or not, anyone can experience these feelings," Doktor continued, ignoring Raiden's narcissism. "And I am surprised you've never encountered this before. You had a wife, no?"

Raiden bit his bottom lip. "Yeah, but when I had a crush on her, y'know, that was so long ago. How could I remember something like that?" He stopped and considered the implications. "Oh, shit. What if I never had feelings for her? And this whole time -"

"Yes, well, we can have our little therapy session later," Doktor said, escorting the even-more-anxious Raiden out of his office.

"So you tell me I've got this crush but won't tell me who it's on?" Raiden scoffed. "That is cold, man."

"There's no information on that. I cannot access your frontal lobe, as hard as I've tried."

"Huh?"

"So... we are going to arrange a little experiment," Doktor proposed. "You spend time with your coworkers. Find out what makes you tick. And if it happens around the same person three times..." Doktor began humming the bridal theme.

"God, you're an asshole," Raiden rolled his eyes as he walked down the hall, Doktor's humming slowly fading away into the background. "But I'm willing to be your guinea pig for this. I guess."


	3. Chapter 3

Well, that had solved absolutely positively nothing. Raiden walked back towards the break room and took a seat on the couch again, but this time, he pulled out his laptop and began typing away, making a list of his coworkers.

> _Boris: Don't see him very often, except at meetings. Strangely fatherly. I feel nothing when I see him._
> 
> _Doktor: I see him a lot. No changes in these feelings. If I had a crush on him, I don't know what I'd do._
> 
> _Courtney: She's cute. Very cute. I see her often and we spend time outside of work. Feelings unknown. Will spend more time with her._
> 
> _Kevin:_

Raiden thought for a moment.

> _Kevin: I think my heart rate goes up near him. But maybe that's because_

Because? Because what? Raiden groaned, holding down the backspace key in defiance. No way. There was no way he had a reason, or even definitive proof that this was the truth. He's continue his little notes like Doktor wanted. Then he'd do something about the results. But for now, he just wanted to get home and relax.

As he walked out to the parking garage, heels nervously clicking and echoing down the halls, he looked across the sea of parked cars and saw Courtney, shuffling towards him with a bag.

"Oh shit!" she exclaimed, losing her balance on her heels as she struggled to catch up.

Raiden winced at the woman's clumsy actions, only standing to watch her finish her little shuffle towards his car.

"Raiden! Glad I found you. Kev and I just got back from getting sushi," she said, handing him the bag. "It's just some California rolls. We figured you'd get hungry."

Raiden awkwardly grabbed the bag, struggling to loop his hand around the handles. "Oh, t-thanks."

"Were you about to leave?" Courtney asked.

"Yeah. I'm not feeling too well today," Raiden replied, analyzing his nails. "You guys can go, too. We'll regroup later this week, I promise."

And with that, he continued walking to his car. Courtney glanced at him.

"You need something?" Raiden asked, unlocking the door and putting the bag in the passenger's seat. "I-I've got nothing for you guys today. Maybe I'll send out an email later, but-"

"You're acting strange," Courtney replied bluntly. "I hope you get to feeling better."

"Just don't worry about me," Raiden reassured, starting his car. "I'll be fine tomorrow. Have a nice evening!"

As he drove, he pulled up his holographic laptop display and made a note as he approached a red light.

> _Courtney: strike 1/3. Nothing._


End file.
